We recently connected with Tanisha Townsend and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tanisha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry. 

Some of the biggest trends I see in the tourism industry is privatization. People aren’t necessarily wanting to go on the large group trips or register for a tour with 10+ other strangers. People are booking their own private tours with private tour guides.

And these tours aren’t to see the major tourist sites of a city or region, they want a ‘locals’ point of view. A glimpse into the daily life, shopping habits, neighborhoods, and restaurants where people are actually living. They are more interested in seeing and understanding the culture instead of just checking a city off their list.

Tanisha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the Chief Wine Officer of my own consultancy firm, Girl Meets Glass, a wine lifestyle and education agency. I’m based in Paris, France and I create wine and food pairing experiences for expats and tourists, host a wine podcast named Wine School Dropout, and teach wine courses at a variety of universities in Paris.

My aim is to be both fun and educational, and a resource for English-speaking expats who find themselves new to French wine culture. I hold the certifications: WSET Level 3, CSW, plus is Certified Specialist of Spirits AND a French Wine Scholar.

My start in wine was drinking it! I had a full time job in IT in Washington, DC. But learning and talking about wine was fun for me and when you do what you love, things work out for you. The opportunity arose to work in wine marketing. I served samples of Bordeaux wines in grocery stores around DC and the surrounding county of Montgomery County, Maryland. France came years later I as learned more, completed more certifications, and taught wine courses at a university in Maryland. Actually, coming to France was a result of networking, a colleague I’d met some time earlier reached out to me and asked if I was interested in replacing her and teaching her wine classes at her school in Paris. I absolutely said yes and came over. This was technically my first job in wine in Paris. I later created tours of wine bars in the city and posted them online. Now I consider myself [many things]: 1) a wine educator, as I teach wine courses at universities in Paris, 2) a freelancer as I host a podcast, Wine School Dropout, create ebooks about where to drink/buy wine in Paris, write articles for online wine & spirits publications…and 3) wine experience curator as I plan wine tastings, wine tours, etc throughout all of France.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

COVID! I absolutely had to pivot during this time. For starters, we didn’t really know what it was or how long it would ‘last’. The tourism industry came to a complete and screeching halt. So now what do I do in this foreign country? I get online! I start offering online wine tastings. I engage with people on social media, I help wineries and other people/companies figure out social media strategy. I develop new ideas and topics for my podcast, I create the episodes and interview the people. It was a matter of not completely freaking out and thinking doom and gloom, but taking a moment to think about my skill set and how it can serve people during that time.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think just the move to Paris in and of itself is a story of resilience. Where did this courage come from to pack up and move to another country with no real job, didn’t speak the language, and I knew like 3 people. I just kept thinking in my head, WHY NOT? I packed a suitcase and a backpack and flew across the ocean 8 years ago and it was the best decision I’ve made and I’m the happiest I’ve been!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.girlmeetsglass.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/girlmeetsglass
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanishatownsend/